100 Mr. D. A. Banuerman on the [Ibis, 



Family Thalassidromid^."^ 



Thalassidroma pelagica. Storm Petrel. 



Procellaria pelagica Linn. Syst. Nat. lOtli ed. 1758, p. 131 

 — Type locality : Coast of Sweden. 



I have termed the Storm Petrel an Annual Visitor, for it 

 does not fall into any of the other seven categories into 

 which I have divided the avifauna of the Canaries. 



The first record of T. pelagica from the islands is given 

 by Ledru in 1810 in his List of the Birds of Tenerife, 

 vol. i. p. 184. 



Webb and Berthelot in 1841 wrote " It appears that this 

 species is found from time to time on the coasts of the 

 Canary Islands '^ (Orn. Canaricnne, p. 45). They record a 

 bird Avhich was canght by the fishermen and kept alive 

 several days. 



Bolle was of opinion that this was the Storm Petrel most 

 frequently met with in the Canary seas (J. f. O. 1857, 

 p. 346). 



Meade-Waldo found it always about the islands (Ibis, 

 1893, p. 206). Cabrera possessed a specimen whicli had 

 been caught at Punta del Plidalgo in Tenerife, and remarked 

 that it occnrred fairly frequently but was rare in certain 

 seasons (Catiilogo, p. C5) • while Polatzek considered it 

 but a rare visitor (Orn. Jahrb. 1909, p. 133). 



There is no actnal record of the Storm Petrel breeding 

 in the Canary group, althongh I strongly suspect that it 

 will be found to do so. While living on the deserted islet 

 known as Montaiia Clara from June 7 to 14, 1913, 



* By force of circumstances the records of the Petrels and Shearwaters 

 which visit tlie Canaiy Islands and do not breed there are exceedingly 

 sparse. The conclusion must not be dra^vn from this that these ocean- 

 birds are correspondingly rare in the seas of the Archipelago. We 

 know tliat they do occur there and sometimes in considerable numbers. 

 These I have termed "Annual Visitors'" which visit the Archipelago 

 annually but at no fixed season of the year, and which have not been 

 linown to breed in any of the islands. 



The Distribution and Nidification of the Tubinares in the North 

 Atlantic Islands are fully discussed by me in ' The Ibis/ 1914, pp. 438-494. 



